The subject matter herein relates generally to power wiring devices.
Conventional power wiring devices for homes or businesses, such as power outlets, lighting switches, dimmers, and the like, are typically provided with screw terminals along sides thereof for attachment to building wiring. The screw terminals are integrated with the electrical component of the power wiring device, such as to the AC power receptacles, the switch, and the like. Such conventional power wiring devices are strictly electrical in nature without any electronics enclosed for affecting the power control of the power wiring devices.
Recently, the power wiring devices have been designed as “smart” devices with the addition of electronics into the power wiring devices for additional control capability, such as for remote control, power management, and the like. For example, circuit boards with integrated electronic components and circuits have been provided in the housing of the power wiring devices. However, the addition of such electronics add to the size of the power wiring devices due to the density of the electronics, causing the power wiring devices to push the limits of the size of standard and existing wall wiring boxes. The added size of the power wiring devices has made it impractical or impossible to attach building wiring to screw terminals as the sides of the power wiring devices are pushed to the width of the wall wiring box. As a result, typical smart power wiring devices for homes and businesses are supplied with wire leads coming out of the housing of the smart power wiring device, which are then spliced into the building wiring, such as using wire nuts. During manufacture of the device, the wires leads are hand soldered into the circuit board inside the housing, which is a time consuming and labor intensive manufacturing process, making such smart power wiring devices expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, the additional length of wire leads and the corresponding wire nuts or push nuts and the added size of the power wiring device make the wall wiring box into which the assembly is installed very cramped. Additionally, when the dedicated wire leads and building wiring wires are pressed into the wall wiring box, the wires or wire leads are often pinched, which could pose a safety hazard.
A need remains for a power wiring device that overcomes some or all of the problems associated with other power wiring devices incorporating control electronics satisfying the limited space constraints.